New Zealand Classic Car – September 2019

30 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com

the powers at be to see things Alan’s way,

but the government was not prepared to

discuss the issue further.

Towards the end of 1969, Alan started to

reassess the economic viability of building

just 600 cars. He still had no big financial

investors and the government would not

change its stance — even when a delegation

from Reliant arrived in New Zealand to

help the Gibbs brothers present their case.

In mid March of 1970, after five years

of fighting to get the Anziel Nova into

production, Alan cried no more, cut his

losses, and moved to Australia.

The Anziel Nova prototype was sold,

and the Gibbs brothers had more success

in obtaining import licences for the

manufacture of staplers.

During 1988, the Anziel Nova was

spotted in Kerikeri by automotive journalist

William Hobbs. It was still in regular use.

Hobbs said that the car was quite tatty in

appearance, but the fact that it was still in

everyday service was a testament to the most

basic requirement of New Zealand–owned

cars: that they should survive hard use for a

long time.

At some stage after his return to

New Zealand, Alan Gibbs tracked the car

down. He had it restored by AC Fibreglass

in Auckland during 1995. Currently, it

is kept in pristine condition and resides

on Alan’s Auckland farm along with the

Aquadas. ‘Anziel’, by the way, stands for

‘Australia and New Zealand Industrial

Engineering Limited’.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A Very Fine Car, by Desmond Mahoney, The NZ Motor World,

February–March 1968

Here is the Nova, The Auckland Star, September 1967

Minister Sees New Car, The Evening Post, 27 September 1967

NZ Nova Shows Its Lines, The New Zealand Herald,

August 1967

Remember the Anziel Nova, by William Hobbs, Cars of

Yesteryear, September 1988

Serious Fun: The Life and Times of Alan Gibbs, by

Paul Goldsmith

Will This NZ Car Roll off the Line, New Zealand Financial

Times, 10 February 1968

Thanks to the help of the late Paul McDiarmid

and Christopher Moore.

‘Anziel’, by the way,

stands for ‘Australia and

New Zealand Industrial

Engineering Limited’